L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano W h e n w e t h i n k about the q u i n t e s - s e n t i a l Renaissance artist, thoughts – quite rightly – go almost immediately to Leonardo or M i c h e l a n g e l o , a n d o n l y those with a passion for and some knowledge of art his- tory would mention Ben- venuto Cellini. But the Florentine goldsmith is as much a complete artist in his essence and work, as his more famous, above-men- tioned colleagues. Cellini was born in 1500, the second child of a musi- cian and music instruments builder, Giovanni. Giovanni wanted a music career for h i m , b u t g o l d a n d s i l v e r w e r e y o u n g B e n v e n u t o ' s r e a l p a s s i o n a n d s o , h e b e c a m e a g o l d s m i t h . H e w o r k e d , t h r o u g h o u t h i s career, in Florence, Siena, Bologna, Rome, Ferrara, and France, but what makes him a real example of pure Renaissance artistic flair is how he mastered more than one art: he wasn't only a goldsmith, but also a musi- c i a n , a s c u l p t o r , a n d a writer. In fact, people are likely more familiar with his Autobiography and his f a m o u s t r e a t i s e O n t h e Goldsmith's Art, than they are with his visual and plas- tic arts pieces. B e n v e n u t o w a s e v e r y inch the stereotypical tor- m e n t e d a r t i s t : r e s t l e s s , rowdy, and often in trouble with the law, having to leave a p l a c e t o e s c a p e j u s t i c e wasn't all that strange for him. But, oh boy: he was t a l e n t e d . A n d C o s i m o I De' Medici, Duke of Flo- r e n c e a n d , l a t e r , G r a n d Duke of Tuscany, knew it well if it's true that he made him a court sculptor: it was under Cosimo I's patronage t h a t C e l l i n i c o n c e i v e d , designed and created what may well be his most iconic piece, the Perseus with t h e H e a d o f M e d u s a , today in Piazza della Signo- ria's Loggia dei Lanzi. The Perseus is a thing of beauty, almost classical in its aesthetic balance, but filled with opulent details and quirks, like the self-por- trait Cellini shaped on the b a c k o f t h e h e r o ' s h e a d , using his helmet and hair to create the illusion of a face. But The Perseus is not only beautiful, but it also has a p r e t t y a m a z i n g s t o r y , a story that Cellini himself reveals in his autobiogra- phy. Cellini had very clear ideas about how to make The Perseus: he wanted to use bronze, which hadn't been used to make sculp- tures for some time when he received the commission (1545), and for a very spe- cific reason. He likened the pouring of molten bronze into the statue's cast to the f l o w i n g o f b l o o d i n t o a body: a symbol of life and vitality. And there was more because to meet fully this symbolism, the whole statue h a d t o b e m a d e i n o n e piece, in one cast, contrarily to what was usually done, that is, casting each section of the statue separately and then joining them together at a later stage. The undertaking demon- strated to be incredibly dif- ficult: while preparing the metal to pour into the cast, Cellini noticed immediately that the molten bronze – an alloy of copper and tin – was too thick, which meant the whole lot was unusable. If he wanted to save the day, Cellini explained, he had to t h i n k q u i c k , a n d t h a t ' s exactly what he did: he ran to his kitchen, picked all the tin pans and dishes he had, and even used some coming directly from the kitchens of Palazzo Vecchio. The extra tin made the bronze more fluid, enabling him to pour it without problems into the cast. Truth is no one believed C e l l i n i c o u l d m a k e t h e w h o l e P e r s e u s i n o n e g o and, considering the size of the statue – it stands at over 5 meters (16 and a half feet) – and Perseus' posture, with his arms wide open and lift- ed towards the sky, failure could have been truly just around the corner for the goldsmith. Eventually, how- ever, only part of the stat- ue's right foot and calf had to be recast, even if Cellini himself wrote he only had to rework Perseus' toes. While n e i t h e r r e s t o r a t i o n n o r research managed to con- f i r m o r d e b u n k C e l l i n i ' s words, it appears that some parts of the statue, namely the Medusa's head, have a much higher content of tin than the rest. During the Second World War, as happened to many o t h e r w o r k s o f a r t , T h e Perseus was removed from its location and kept hid- den. When it returned to Piazza della Signoria, in the early 1950s, restorers ana- lyzed its composition and discovered Cellini may have used some 100 pieces of tin c r o c k e r y a n d p a n s t o achieve the right fluidity and save the sculpture: leg- ends say that Cellini even asked Cosimo I for a refund, as he had to melt off all of his kitchen utensils! The Perseus underwent major restoration work in 1996 when both the statue and its pedestal were moved into the Uffizi. Once fully restored, the piece returned t o P i a z z a d e l l a S i g n o r i a , even though the pedestal we see today there is a copy of the original. L a s t b u t n o t l e a s t , w e should mention that Celli- ni's Perseus made it into pop culture, too: we can see a " v e r s i o n " o f i t a t t h e b e g i n n i n g o f a n e p i s o d e from the 24th season of The Simpsons, where Cellini's hero has the not-so-heroic features of Mr. Burns' side- kick, Smithers. Making art with saucepans: Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus FRANCESCA BEZZONE Cellini's Perseus and Palazzo Vecchio (Photo: Angelo Gilardelli/Dreamstime) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE TRADITIONS

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